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Sunday, November 06, 2016

A Lot of Organizations are Looking for Funding for Mars Research

Bolstered by recent SpaceX announcements that the company will soon begin developing the technology and infrastructure necessary to support future Mars missions and follow-up statements of support from US space agency NASA, a variety of academics and entrepreneurs have begun pitching their expertise in the Martian environment.

Its mission is a difficult one. As outlined in the November 2nd, 2016 AM980 post, "Western Students Partner With Canadian Space Agency To Return To Mars–Almost," students and researchers "from campuses across the country have teamed up for a public demonstration of their capabilities" in Utah, which is thought to have a similar surface structure to that of Mars. The simulation will run until November 18th.

In the 2009 - 2010 federal budget, $110Mln CDN was allocated over three years "for space robotics research and development," much of which quickly ended up funding research on various Canadian rover designs, including the MESR.

But none of that money was ever allocated for "full life cycle funding," which covers an actual mission. For the CSA to be able to do anything more than continue testing its rovers in an Earth analogue, it needs more funding.

NASA AMES graphic showing a "Red Dragon" Mars sample return mission using SpaceX derived hardware. As outlined in the April 26th, 2016 Popular Mechanics post, "SpaceX Announces a 2018 Mission to Mars," the plan "was to have the Red Dragon capsule pick up samples gathered by the Mars 2020 rover and bring them back to Earth. A potential Red Dragon sample return would launch on a SpaceX Heavy Falcon rocket, descend to the Martian surface using onboard thrusters, grab samples from an existing rover with a robotic arm, and launch those samples back to Earth in a Mars ascent vehicle contained within the capsule." Graphic c/o NASA AMES.

And here's where the real problem begins. There are a lot of organisations and agencies with the capacity to build simulated Martian missions similar to what the CSA has been doing for the last few years.

For those who would enjoy a trip to Poland, the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) is preparing to conduct a Mars analog simulation mission in Poland during 2017. SGAC is a global non-governmental, non-profit (US 501(c)3) organisation which aims to represent university students and young space professionals to the United Nations, space agencies, industry, and academia.

More Mars analog missions will pop up if new money from SpaceX, NASA and the international community becomes available. The specialized expertise required to operate rovers has also become more widely available and less costly since CSA began its development work 15 years ago.